Main navigation

Holland

Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Amsterdam, oh how I fell in love with that city and its people. Everyone there is very friendly, kind and polite. They speak to you in dutch and after when they see you do not understand they speak English with an adorable English accent.Unlike France, if you do not look ¨french¨ they will speak to you in English. As soon as I arrived I was greeted by a friend, Jeffrey, who was the stereotypical dutch, Super tall, blond and colored eyes. Thus, making me feel like a midget. I am average, 160cm or 5ft 2.5 in; (Yes, I need the 0.5 to make me feel better, ok?)His 190cm, sooooooo over 6 feet. Anyways, I was used to the everyday life in France, people jaywalking when the street light is red, little English, and people always in a rush. The Netherlands was the opposite, people are more patient and accepting. France is not as open nor accepting in comparison to the Netherlands.You see other races, not just dutch people. Yes, Amsterdam is a touristic place, but I was an hour bus ride away from Amsterdam and It was the same. The forecast for the four days I was there was supposed to be gloomy but luckily it changed to sunny! I ate poffertjes and Kapsalon because I was told it was a must. Poffertjes are small spongy pancakes with butter and powdered sugar. After that, I went to a Dutch school, where I meet one of my friend’s friend, Stefan. Who is super tall, no surprise there. We need to wait for him to finish class, then go eat Kapsalon. While waiting I needed to use the bathroom. I did and I embarrassed myself because they have this machine where paper comes out but you cannot take it out. I was pulling, and pulling to the point that I felt I would break it and this woman told me you just dry your hands and leave it as it. She was nice enough to help me in my struggle. After that, I went to my Jeffrey’s grandmother’s place to try traditional dutch food. Which I ate Zuurkool and ijviestamppot, for desert vla. It was a great experience being able to go into a dutch family and eat their food, and have wonderful conversations with. I was so happy my face hurt from smiling.

The next day I went for the first time to see a movie since I was tired and we went to the city in the afternoon, we were supposed to go eat at a Mexican restaurant but they were closed and I was disappointed. So to pass the time, until it was dark out, we took pictures. While taking a picture a random stranger saw us and kindly offered to help us take a picture. That surprised me and made me very happy.After we went to the Cinema, Pathé, we saw the movie Split it is a man who kidnaps three girls and has multiple personalities disorder. Before going into the room, we hit up the snack bar because what is a movie without popcorn and snacks. While walking up to the snack bar I was ready to order popcorn, until I turned to the side and saw for the first time in what feels forever a Slurpee or Icee! Whatever you call it. Also, I saw nachos!!! My face light up and I was so happy when I saw those, It reminded me of home and of cooooourse I bought them( along with popcorn, of course) Saw the movie, was really interesting. I do recommend watching it since there is very little movies with multiple personalities disorder and not a lot of people know about this illness. That comes from childhood trauma, the brain makes other personalities in order to cope with the trauma. After the movie, of course, I needed to go see the red light district to see what it is all about. It is smaller than I thought, I was like “oh, that is it ?” Then left.

On the final day, we went on a boat ride, everyone must go on one it was a beautiful sight. After the 45min ride around Amsterdam, we took the tram to the Anne Frank house, which the line was over two hours of standing in line if you did not reverse your tickets at least TWO MONTHS in advance. After that, we went to buy cheese. I thought we were going to buy gouda but instead, we bought Stompetoren, I bought 2 kilos.One kilo to give as a gift and the other for me. I sadly, cannot eat French cheese due to the strong smell and taste. That is why I preferred the dutch cheese and bought a kilo of it. After that, I needed to head to the train station to catch my train back to Paris. Before that, I saw a shop that had food where you paid and grab it. I was amazed because I believed those only existed in Japan.The food was not good, I would not recommend. After that, I took my train back to France. Trains are way better than flying. Flying stresses me out so much.

Primary Sidebar

About me

Hello, I am Natalia or you may know me as Natavu which means Nat saw, or Nat has seen in French. I started this blog as a hobby since I came to France to learn French. I wanted to write about my travels, Experiences and more.